Study points to well leaks, not fracking, for water contamination
A study of tainted drinking water in areas where natural gas is produced from shale shows that the contamination is most likely due to leaky wells rather than the process of hydraulic fracturing used to release the gas from the rock.
America’s Cup ushers innovations in engineering
VALENCIA, SPAIN — USA-17, the challenger for the America’s Cup, and Alinghi 5, the defender, may be stripped-down, lean racing machines, built purely for speed. But both are fully loaded.
Managing Disasters With Small Steps
A week ago, Elizabeth Sheehan, the founder of Containers to Clinics, a nonprofit organization in Dover, Mass., was preparing to deploy the group’s first medical clinic overseas. Made from two shipping containers, it was to be sent to the Dominican Republic, where it would begin to fulfill the group’s long-term goal of building health care infrastructure in developing countries through networks of small container clinics in rural areas. Then, last Tuesday, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the Dominican Republic’s neighbor, Haiti. Hospitals in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were destroyed or damaged, and basic medical care was practically nonexistent. Sheehan said her donors immediately started calling her. “They all said, ‘Why don’t you send it there?”’ she said.
Algae May Have Made a Speedy Rebound After Deadly Strike
The asteroid that struck the planet 65 million years ago was very bad for the dinosaurs, as everyone knows, but it wasn’t too good for smaller things, either. Even algae and other primary producers in the ocean were affected, probably because atmospheric debris from the impact reduced the sunlight available for photosynthesis.